People of Action - 1969
- Index
- Moss Arnold
- Rickey Barlow
- Dewey Britt
- W. K. Brooks
- Tom Burton
- Michael (Mike) Chandler
- Charles Maxwell Collett
- Janice Collett
- Martha Marie Cox
- Shelia Doyle
- Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Duck
- James L. England
- Jimmy Gibson
- Mr. and Mrs. Hobart Goff
- Larry Wayne Gurley
- Eugenia Hawkins
- Isaac Frank Hayes
- Edward L. Hearington
- Obie Hendrix
- Mary Della Herndon
- Melvin Holland
- Ralph Holland
- Kenny Kimbro Houston
- Nola Ivey
- Mr. and Mrs. Allye Jennings
- Tom Jennings
- Grady Jones
- O. C. Jordan II
- O. C. (Sonny) Jordan III
- Mr. and Mrs. Hershel Lankford
- Wiley Ledbetter
- Robert Livingston
- Carrie Long
- Juanita Long
- Joe Marshall
- Connie V. Maxwell
- Arbin McKnight
- Paul Middleton
- James Neely
- Carl W. Partin
- Herbert Powers
- Charlie W. Pratt
- Weldon Pratt
- Joe Quinn
- Allye Ragsdale
- Jimmy Raney
- Biddie Rogers
- Will Rogers
- Jim Rushing
- Edna Samples
- Henry Lewis Sanders
- Sue Smith
- Leonard E. Sperry
- Lee Stanfill
- Allie Mae Stevens
- Rubylyn Tanner
- Townsend Family
- Mr. and Mrs. Jess Tucker
- Vada Warden
- Frank Welch
- Joseph L. Wheat
- J. D. Wilford
- W. Terry Wilford
From Lillye Younger, People of Action (Brewer Printing Company, Jackson, Tennessee, n.d.). Special thanks to Constance Collett and the estate of the late Lillye Younger for permission to make this web page.
J. D. Wilford
By Lillye Younger
Desired To Be Minister
PARSONS, Tenn. — "As long as I can remember, I had the desire to be a minister," the Rev. J. D. Wilford, pastor of First Methodist Church at Parsons, said.
"I accepted Christ as my Saviour when I was eight and joined the Burnett's Chapel Methodist Church near Sedalia, Ky."
The Rev. Wilford, born at Sedalia, was the youngest of four children of William Terry and Imogene Dodd Wilford.
"My father had a great influence on my life," he said, "He was a devoted layman and steward of the church and often told me he donated his funds to the church, rather than to the individual minister."
Wilford graduated from Murray State College with an A.B. degree in psychology and philosophy. He said after he graduated from high school he worked two years to earn the money to attend college.
He married Rebecca Sykes in 1934 and they have three sons, Jasper D. Jr., who is employed at Cedar City, Utah; Walton Terry, who is with the State Department's foreign service and will leave soon for La Paz, Bolivia; and Sykes, a junior at Riverside High School.
"My greatest ambition now is to be a Christian minister by preaching to the best of my ability to my congregation and rear my family to be honorable and successful Christian citizens," the minister said.
He has been pastor of churches in Tennessee, Kentucky and Utah. During World War II, he was a chaplain for three years at A.S.F. Regional State Hospital in Fort Ord, Calif.
"I am an optimist and think that more people are concerned about better ways of living, but I am not overlooking the unrest and crime in the world and indifference toward God and the church," he added. "Since the war, the whole world has been going through a cultural, religious, political and economical revelation. They will use any method to accomplish it.
"I have no idea what the purpose is for going to the moon, but I do know God is there. He is concerned with outer space and since man was created in the image of God it becomes man's business to cooperate with Him."
Wilford said the day in the life of a minister is very busy, and challenging and rewarding.